Our blogs are written by the staff of the Center for Coalfield Justice, with an occasional guest post. The most recent post appears on top, and others show up below in order of publishing date. You can receive the blogs in your inbox by signing up for our mailing list. Once per month we publish a newsletter, which contains most of the blog posts.
Gov. Wolf’s Proposed Backroom Tax Breaks for Oil and Gas Would Cost Taxpayers Billions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2022 Contact: Virginia Alvino Young, virginia@sequalconsulting.com GOV. WOLF’S PROPOSED BACKROOM TAX BREAKS FOR OIL AND GAS WOULD COST TAXPAYERS BILLIONS —– The record-breaking subsidies for an infeasible hydrogen hub won’t create jobs or wealth for the communities most harmed by fracking. HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania —— Pennsylvania state leaders are working…
Tell Our Elected Officials to Let Community In – No Backroom Deals on Hydrogen!
Governor Wolf, Harrisburg legislators, and the fossil fuel industry are working together behind closed doors to spend billions of Pennsylvania taxpayer dollars advancing policies that would subsidize the production of blue hydrogen. [The time for this action has passed. We’re leaving the blog for educational purposes] Say NO to Billion-Dollar Backroom Hydrogen Deals! “Clean hydrogen”…
Remembering and Honoring a Coal Miner’s Daughter – as an Oil-and-Gas Worker’s Daughter
This is the 24th installment in our What’s on your mind? blog series and was written by CCJ Community Organizer Tonya Yoders. Have something on your mind? Write about it! Please read this blog for more information. Growing up in rural Appalachia, on a dirt road in a single-wide trailer, forty-five minutes from the nearest grocery store, I…
Letter from the Department of the Interior Threatens Funding to Plug Orphaned and Abandoned Gas Wells
In July, Pennsylvania House Bill 2644 (“HB 2644”) passed in the legislature. The bill allocates the money Pennsylvania is set to receive from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”) to plug abandoned and orphaned gas wells in the state. To learn more about HB 2644, check out this blog. Last month, a few weeks…
Pitt School of Public Health, PA Dept of Health abruptly pull out of public meeting they helped convene
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Virginia Alvino Young, virginia@sequalconsulting.com, 714-267-1623 Pitt School of Public Health, PA Dept of Health abruptly pull out of public meeting they helped convene — At the last minute, the institutions backed out of a public meeting about their own studies on the link between natural gas development and childhood cancer…
Community Power Stopped the Dirty Deal!
For the past month, the Center for Coalfield Justice (“CCJ”) and other environmental justice organizations have been fighting against a deal made between Senator Joe Manchin and the Democratic Leadership. The deal was made to sway Manchin’s deciding vote in passing the Inflation Reduction Act and required his bill, The Energy Independence and Security Act,…
IPCs Held for Three Coal Mine Expansions
Three virtual Informal Public Conferences (IPCs) were held by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) in the past month for Consol Mining’s latest three expansions. The Bailey, Enlow, and Harvey Mines all applied for development mining permits to set up for future longwall panels. In total, roughly 7,000 acres of land within Greene…
Brief update on the status of RGGI in Pennsylvania
As of July 1, 2022, Pennsylvania became the 12th state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade program that requires coal-fired power plants to buy an allowance for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit. The allowances are sold at quarterly auctions, and the revenue generated is distributed to the states in…
CCJ Rallied with Hundreds of Activists Against the Backroom Permitting Reform Deal. Add your Voice to the Opposition!
Click Here to Tell Congress “NO” to the Dirty Deal (this action has passed) On Thursday, September 8th, the Center for Coalfield Justice (“CCJ”) joined over 600 environmental and climate activists from across the nation in Washington, D.C. to protest what has become known as the “Dirty Deal” between Senator Joe Manchin and Democratic Leadership….
Voter Registration Access is Expanded, Thanks to Governor Wolf’s Executive Order
On September 7th, Governor Wolf signed Executive Order 2022-03. This order designates September as Voter Registration Month, and is also an expansion of voter registration opportunities. The order designates seven existing government entities as Voter Registration Distribution Agencies (VRDA). These agencies will be required to provide voter registration literature and services to eligible Pennsylvanians. Following…